GiTD #29 interest

Obviously there is some interest. Just a matter of when. In the 1GAM thread, Senekis suggested that we do a monthly GiTD, so it could serve as the basis for your monthly finished game.

Kewry, RTL_Shadow and Halysia said they liked the idea (3 following posts), but what about everyone else? If we do it once a month, December’s GiTD contest will be #39.

That said, if there is a monthly contest, #29 it would start on the 31st of January (a Thursday) and go till the 10th (a Sunday) or start it the following week, since I think everyone would find it preferable to start GiTD as early in the month as possible.

tl;dr:
Interest in GiTD #29?
Interest in doing GiTD once a month for the duration of 2013?
Interest in doing GiTD #29 on January 31st or February 7th?

Obviously I wouldn’t try to make a game in all of them, but it’s a pretty good idea for any 1GAMers. Especially with the huge number of participants last time, doing them more often might spread out the competition more.

I couldn’t enter all of them either, probably only a few, but I see no problem with having 11 more this year. Especially if people are in that 1GAM thing, I think this is a great idea to help motivate people. The only problem I can foresee is if people are unhappy with the theme then they will just do their own idea for 1GAM rather than making something they really aren’t interested in. Either way, I agree it would be great to have 1 per month I just don’t think there will be much of a turnout for every single one.

Yeh, I’m thinking the same thing regarding doing it every month, with less entries and maybe burnout. Perhaps every 3 months then, for a total of 4? Or just keeping them random as they have been in the past.

I’d be interested in entering other GiTDs as long as the timing is right. The holidays were a bad time for me to get any kind of game development work done, but hopefully I won’t have as much difficulty putting in some work in future GiTDs. Once a month is probably too much, so perhaps every 2 to 3 months?

I’m always eager to enter GiTDs, and always disappointed when they get a theme I don’t like. So, more frequent GiTDs solve both my problems at once. I’m all for it!

As for the concern for too frequent GiTDs resulting in burnout, I know it’s anecdotal evidence, but look at this last one: It came on the heels of the previous one, was set up during the holidays, and it still had record participation. I think holding GiTDs more regularly actually helps get the word out about the competition, and attracting more entrants can only be a good thing for the contest.

I’d at least try to participate in every GiTD across the year and I’m not actively participating in 1GAM like many on the kong forums are – GiTD gives me motivation and a starting point. I suppose you could at least try to do a GiTD the first few months, and if you’re finding there’s simply too few entries just spread them out more thereafter.

YES. I was hoping that several of my 1GAM entries would be GiTD related! Consider me on board UG!

I agree and disagree with Moshdef, Some people might get discouraged because of the theme, But theres others like me who see it as a crazy training handicap. Forcing myself to fit a theme and make a game within a week at the begging of each month! Now that sounds like some fun times.

I’m curious UG, do you think Kong will sponsor more of these competitions? Several of the GiTD entries were released right here, and I’m sure that several more (once the Game Devs decide they’re finished and polished enough) will be released here as well.
I know you don’t know, but what do you speculate?

Since I got a full time coding job, I don’t feel like coding games so much when I get home. But I might join in, if I find the theme particularly inspiring. I like watching these and voting on them as well, but I didn’t have time to compare all 22 entries this time. Can anyone think of a way to make a fair voting system if the voters haven’t played all the games?

The only problem I have with GiTDs is thinking up a decent enough game to fit the theme. Mostly, this is my fault, but if a monthly contest is going to take place, it’d be good to have well thought-out themes worked out in advance.
While the last one was good for its open endedness (not sure if word), getting heaps of sumissions, I ultimately felt the theme was just too open. Lost of different gameplay is good, but saving cats, dodging cannons, fruit, ninja stars and opening a mining enterprise are simply too different to be compared on any other basis than gameplay.

Basically, I’d love too compete, and more reasons to make flash games, but not at the expense of running out of themes.

Alright, it looks like GiTD #29 will happen on the 31st of January and will be monthly if the participation is decent.

To try to force some more quality stuff out and to encourage non-programmer feedback I might be suggesting that entries are uploaded to Kongregate instead of fastSWF (or both: Update-able one on Kong and a static, voting version on FastSWF).

GiTD should help you finish games and push them out there to get feedback regardless of the quality. This will help you get better as a game designer, programmer, and developer in general.

Also, if you ever finish an entry for a GiTD contest and publish it, please bump the relevant GiTD voting thread to say you finished it and put a link in. We’d all love to check them out.

Hey, do you like games? So do we — that’s what makes Kongregate the best source of free games online. We have thousands upon thousands of free online games, from both one-man indies and large studios, rated and filtered so you can play the best of the best. Read more »